The Fight To Forgive | Pastor KJay Johnson | Radiant Church TXK

Welcome, YouTube family. My name is Joanna. [music] Thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube to stay up-to-date each week. We believe God has a powerful word for you today. So, [music] let's dive into this amazing message.

>> If you are taking notes, the title of my sermon is "The Fight to Forgive." >> LET'S GO. COME ON, SOMEBODY. Let's go.

>> The fight to forgive. And I just want you to know that forgiveness is a fight. It's not easy. It is a fight. Sometimes you're going to have to wrestle. Sometimes you're going to have to, to, to, to pray, go before Jesus because to forgive is a fight. Because some people hurt you, wounded you, betrayed you. And some people, they don't deserve forgiveness. You want to know a person that don't deserve forgiveness? All of us. >> We don't deserve forgiveness, but yet Jesus still gave it to us. >> Yeah. Come on. And sometimes it is hard and difficult to forgive. But when you forgive, God's going to change you. He's going to heal you. He's going to process you and restore you. And the beautiful thing about forgiveness is it has layers to it. The first layer of forgiveness is deciding to forgive. But when forgiveness is matured, it turns into healing. >> Come on. >> So if you say, "Well, I forgave them." But if the thought of them keeps making you emotional, keeps making you angry, you keep reliving the trauma, maybe you didn't make it through the progression of forgiveness. >> 'Cause forgiveness has a progression. There's many stages to forgive. And when you just decide to forgive, 'cause sometimes when you decide to forgive, you got an attitude with it. "I forgive you. I forgive. Don't play with me, but I forgive you though." And you got the energy still on you. It's like, not that you didn't forgive, you're just at stage one. You're just, you just stepped in the door of forgiveness. >> But when forgiveness matures, it looks like healing. >> Come on. [applause] >> Which means that if you're not healed, let's take a deeper walk into forgiveness because God has the power to heal you completely. Some of you guys have been through hell and high water. You've been betrayed. You've been abused. You've been hurt. You've been wounded. I mean, you, you had unimaginable things happen to you. But I want you to know, our God is a healer and He can heal whatever happened to you. It may be hard. You may be crying. You may be crawling. But God can heal it if you could forgive it. >> Okay? So, we have to forgive. And when we forgive, God, God can start doing a healing and a work inside of us. And the reason we have to forgive is because your future is too valuable to be chained to your past. Let me say it again. Your future is too valuable to be chained to your past.

So today we're going to read a story about forgiveness. Go to Genesis 37. We're going to start at verse three. You guys are there? Say, "Ready." First book of the Bible. If he can't get there, you might want to reconsider. No, I'm playing. If he's in Proverbs, he may not be the one. All right. Genesis 37:3 and it reads, "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children." See, this is where everything goes wrong right here. This is where it goes off rail. >> I used to ask my mama, "Which one of us do you love most?" She said, "I love all y'all the same." Well, right here, somebody clearly had a favorite because he was on, because he was the son of his old age. See, they love loving that youngest one the most. See, there it is. It's right here. The Bible is declared. No, I'm playing. And he made him a tunic of many colors. Uh, for all you modern people that didn't grow up in church, a tunic is just a coat. It's a jacket. He made him a jacket of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. Now, Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. News flash: when you have a dream from God, quit telling it to people that already hate you.

>> We're going to jump down to verse 18. Now when they saw him afar, so Joseph is going, he's left the house and he's going out to meet his brothers out away from his father and mother. And when they saw him afar, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. WHOA. >> UHOH. >> Kill him. It's one thing to hate somebody, but kill him. >> Well, Jesus said, "Whoever has hate in his heart has already committed murder." >> Maybe he's on to something. Verse 19. Then they said to one another, "Look, this dreamer is coming. Come, therefore, let us kill him and cast him into some pit, and we shall say some wild beast devoured him. We shall see what will become of his dreams." There were people that would try to kill you and abort you because of your dreams. But Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of their hands. And he said, "Let us not kill him." And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him that he may deliver him out of their hands." So this is his, he was trying to deliver his brother out of their hands. He was one of the other brothers. and bring him back to his father. So it came to pass when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, or they ripped his coat off of him. The tunic of many colors that was on him. Then they took him and cast him into a pit, and the pit was empty and there was no water. And they sat down and ate a meal. Then they lifted up their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming to Gilead, uh, with their camels bringing spices, balm, myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah, so Judah, so Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us, and let not our hands be upon him. He is our brother, our flesh." And his brothers listened. Then the Midianite traders passed by, and the brothers pulled Joseph out, lifted him out of the pit, sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. >> And they took Joseph to Egypt. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Um, let's kind of dig into this. So, Joseph has tension with his brothers, and he has tensions with his brothers because in this day, everything was about, uh, who was the double portion baby, who would get the blessing, who would carry the family name, who would be the chosen one, who would be the special one, who did the parents love most, who was up next. This is kind of in that age, in that era, of how things was done. So, to make matters even worse, they had different mothers. All his brothers had one mother. And then Joseph was the child of the woman that Israel loved most. >> So he's the baby. He's the child conceived out of old age. And he's the baby from the woman Israel, or Jacob, loved most. So automatically, he comes in with this favor on his life. And he was so favored that the Bible said that his father loved him more than all the brothers. >> Wow. >> So the first thing you have to see in this story is before you see that Joseph's brothers hurt him, you got to first see that their father hurt them. >> Yeah. Come on now. >> Because hurt people hurt people. >> And maybe people wasn't just trying to destroy you. Maybe it was a jealousy destroying them on the inside out because somebody loved you that didn't love them. Somebody blessed you that didn't bless them. Somebody favored you that didn't favor them. I want you to know, even betrayal has context. >> And the brothers were hurt by the father because THE FATHER LOVED THIS one more than them. >> So they were hurt. And then, not to, not even to mention that they were hurt, Joseph didn't make it no better. He had what I call "little brother syndrome." "Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me." >> Then he had a COAT OF MANY COLORS. So he was just bling-blinging with his coat. "EVERY TIME I COME AROUND the city, he bling-bling like he bling-blinging in his coat. Bling-blinging in front of his brothers. Got his coat of many colors. You guys like my coat? I know y'all don't got one, but look at my coat." >> "Oh yeah, I just had a dream, too. And you all were bowing to me." >> AND USUALLY YOU WOULDN'T CARE ABOUT the dream, but but THE LITTLE BOY PROBABLY HAD A COUPLE DREAMS that came true. They was like, "This little man's anointed, too." >> For you to consider the little sibling's dream, he probably has some fruit. And we see through the life of Joseph, we ain't never seen him miss on a dream. >> So he probably was like, "Yeah, you getting a whooping tomorrow." Bam, they got whooped. They was like, "Who is this little kid?" >> So he's prophetic. He's anointed. HE'S FAVOR. HE'S BLING-BLINGING. HE'S HE'S THROWING his weight and the dad's just smiling at him. >> Well, I want to preserve the family, too. I want to be great, too. I want to be loved, too. I want to be served, too. And then jealousy turned into hate. And hate turned into malice. And malice turned into attempted murder. >> So the people that hurt you, somebody probably first hurt them. You don't just wake up and decide to be a monster. You don't just wake up and and decide to be an abuser. You don't just wake up and decide to be an offender. YOU HURT PEOPLE BECAUSE SOMEBODY HURT YOU. >> AND SOMETIMES IN THE FIGHT TO FORGIVE, you got to remember that sometimes your abuser was first abused. So now all of a sudden, Joseph is coming up. His brothers seen him from afar. They conspired to kill him. But instead of killing him, the first thing they did to him was they stripped his coat off of him. They ripped his coat off of him. Why did they rip his coat off of him? They ripped his coat off of him because his coat was symbolic of his anointing. His coat was symbolic of the favor on his life. His coat was symbolic of his father's approval. The coat was a picture of identity. And they said, "We're going to rip your coat off of you to show you you are not favored. You do not have identity. You are not better than us. We going to rip your coat off of you." And I know sometimes you've been in life and you walked with your innocence, and somebody ripped it off of you. And now you can't unsee what you saw because your innocence was ripped. Your coat was ripped off of you. Sometimes your virtue was ripped off of you. Sometimes the purity that you grew up with as A CHILD WAS TAKEN FROM YOU FROM AN ABUSER. They ripped his coat. >> They ripped his coat and it shifted his identity. WHENEVER YOUR COAT IS ripped off of you, IT SHIFTS YOUR IDENTITY. >> They ripped this coat. And maybe you live in such a way that somebody ripped your coat. You were a good woman until you kept getting cheated on, and then it ripped your coat. You was, YOU WAS A LOVING CHILD UNTIL NOBODY loved you back, and it kept ripping YOUR COAT. YOU, YOU WAS LOYAL TO THE CHURCH. ALL YOU DID WAS SERVE, BUT NOBODY THANKED YOU AND SAW YOU, AND IT RIPPED YOUR COAT. And now you're walking with a broken identity because YOUR COAT WAS RIPPED and stripped from you. >> And not only did somebody rip your coat, the people you love most ripped your coat. >> Your heroes became your villains as they ripped your coat. >> And not only did they rip your coat, but they threw you in the pit. He was thrown in the pit. A pit is a dark place. A pit is a lonely place. A pit is a broken place. The Bible says there's no food. There was, it was empty and it had no water. There's no food in the pit. There's no water. There's no nourishment. There's no refreshment in the pit. If you ever go through a season where you feel like you're just struggling, you're not spiritually eating. You, you're not spiritually drinking. You feel dehydrated. You feel depleted. You're probably in a pit. >> Wow. >> And when you're hurt by somebody, it puts you in a pit. It puts you in a dark place. And you know you're in the pit because every time you try to climb up out of it, you can't. >> And Joseph was in the pit. And maybe you've been in the pit. Maybe you've been in something you try to climb up out of. You try to climb up out of that divorce, but you can't. You try to climb up out of that betrayal, but you can't. Your parents went there to raise you, but then they raised someone else, and you don't understand why they didn't want you. And you're trying to climb up out of that pit, and you can't. And then to make matters even worse, as he's sitting in this pit, scared, terrified, thirsty, hungry, and dehydrated, the Bible says they was eating. While they were starving him, there was eating. There's people that starved you and they ate in your face. They mocked you and they laughed at you while you suffered in the pit. >> And this is what happened to him. HE SUFFERED WHILE THEY ATE. THEY were able to feast. And it looked like they was laughing. And it looked like as they was conspiring, they was getting away with it. And it looked like God was absent because why would God allow this to happen? And then all of a sudden, Joseph hears footsteps. >> And then he hears chatter. And and and and I know this because as a group of people walking up to a pit, this is what you would have to hear. And in his mind and in his spirit, I'm sure he was like, "My brothers are coming back to rescue me. They're coming back to get me. They're coming back to save me. These are my brothers. These are the people that's supposed to protect me, and they're coming to do that." And it looked like that's what they was doing because they pulled him out of the pit. But they didn't pull him out of the pit to rescue him. No, they pulled him out of the pit to sell him. >> And as he was pulled out of the pit, they pulled him out of the pit and they sold him into slavery. The people that was supposed to cover him sold him. The people that were supposed to protect him sold him. The people that were supposed to have his back sold him. Have you ever been sold out by people that were supposed to be there for you? Have you ever been sold out by people that was supposed to have your back? Have you ever been hurt by people that was actually supposed to help you and heal you? And this is the, and this is the tension of this story because he was hurt by those that he should have loved most. In life, whenever we're betrayed, it is not the blows of an enemy that breaks us and brings us down to our knees and to our tears. It's the blows of family. >> Yeah. Come on. >> Because you CAN ONLY HURT ME SO MUCH IF I don't know you. >> YEAH. >> YOU CAN ONLY HURT ME SO MUCH IF I DON'T LOVE YOU. YOU CAN ONLY BETRAY ME SO MUCH IF I DON'T TRUST YOU. And all of a sudden, he is being betrayed NOT BY AN ENEMY, NOT by a stranger, but by who he considered family. Some of you guys are sitting in this room and you was HURT BY FAMILY. YOU WAS HURT BY PEOPLE THAT SHOULD HAVE PROTECTED YOU. YOU WAS TOUCHED BY PEOPLE AT THE CHURCH THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO PRAY FOR YOU, NOT BRING PERVERSION INTO YOUR LIFE. And it stings and it hurts and it bleeds and IT WOUNDS because I trusted you and you betrayed me. >> And then it goes even deeper because not they didn't give him away to slavery, they sold him into slavery. What does that mean? That means they profited off of his pain. There are people that didn't only inflict pain on you, but they actually profited from your pain. >> They lied on you and they profited FROM IT. THEY TALKED ABOUT you and they profited FROM IT. THEY DESTROYED YOUR REPUTATION and they profited from it. They came against you and they profited from it. It's one thing to come against me, IT'S ANOTHER THING TO PROFIT OFF OF THE PAIN YOU CAUSED ME. >> THAT YOU GOT AHEAD BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO ME. And it hurts and it stings and it burns. And Joseph couldn't believe that the people that he trusted and loved most would do a number on him. And if you're in this room and if you've been hurt by people, maybe you've been abused, maybe you've been molested, maybe you've been lied to, maybe you was neglected, maybe you were harmed, maybe you were cheated on, maybe you were physically abused. I don't know what happened to you. Maybe you wasn't affirmed and loved like you were supposed to be. But I want you to know that God is still with you. And you have to fight to forgive. You have to keep fighting to forgive. You have to fight to forgive. And you, and it won't make it all better. But sometimes there's context because hurt people hurt people. And the people that hurt you, they probably did it because they was hurting too. It don't make it okay. It don't make it better. BUT YOU HAVE TO FIGHT to forgive.

>> And the fight starts right here. The fight starts right now. The fight starts at this moment. You're having to fight to forgive. Now, I'm going to go a little deeper. Can we go to my next text? Let's go to my next text. Let's go a little bit deeper. We can go to Genesis chapter 42. And I'm going to fast forward the story. Some of you guys may know it, maybe you don't. So, I'll make it really quick. Joseph, when he was sold into slavery, he started working for a man named Potiphar. He rose to power in Potiphar's house. And the Bible calls Joseph a, Joseph a handsome man. It's one thing when a lady calls you handsome, guys, but when the Bible says you're handsome, you look good. The Bible called him handsome. And Potiphar's wife saw him and she was like, "Joseph, lie with me." He said, "Girl, bye. I ain't doing that." She, she, she, she, she ripped him out of his, his coat. And then he ran outside because he wouldn't lie. He wouldn't lie with her. So here we see him getting his coat ripped off for a second time. >> My God. >> Because he wouldn't lie with her. Then she lied on him, and Potiphar put him inside of prison because of what his wife said. Now, to even add one deeper, Potiphar, I believe, knew that that, that his wife was lying because he was actually the execution guard of Pharaoh. He was the person that got people killed. And if somebody really tried to rape your wife, you probably wouldn't get them put in jail. If you're the execution officer, you would probably kill him, but you put him in jail because you had to save face for your wife. And you, and Joseph could have had a conversation like, "Bro, I know you didn't do it, but I'm sorry she said it. I got to protect the family's name." >> So now you're in jail, and then you're in jail interpreting dreams for people, and you having, they're back in jail, and they're like, "Hey, bro, when, when we get out, we got you." But they got out and they forgot about him as he helped them while they were incarcerated. And then you go from there, and he is wrestling, and he is struggling. And then finally, Pharaoh had a dream. He interpreted it. Pharaoh put him in charge of everything. He became the prince of Egypt, second in command, uh, only to Pharaoh. And, and he became a powerful man. And God gave him wisdom of the famines that would come. And he, uh, preserved grain and he stacked up on grain, and the whole world would have a famine and they would go into starvation. The whole entire planet except for Egypt because Joseph was a wise leader. He stored up grain. Which means that God was actually set in the scene in the plot because his brothers would have to come before him to eventually get grain to stay alive. And ain't it like God to bring the people that broke you to your feet, at your doorstep, to need you after they broke you, after they betrayed you, after they hurt you. Now you hurt me and you need me. Now you hurt me and you need me to cash out you. Now you hurt me and you need some money. Now you hurt me and you need me to pray for you. Now you hurt me and you need me to meet with you. And ain't it like God to bring the people that betrayed you to your doorstep needing you? >> Yeah. >> And it's not that God is trying to expose them. It's God's trying to expose you to forgiveness. And God's trying to see how big of a person you are because it takes a big person to bless somebody that actually cursed them. Come on, somebody. Can we give God a shout of praise for that? [applause]

>> So, we're going to jump to Genesis 42 now. And this is Joseph. And he had been testing his brothers because what's not tested can't be trusted. Everyone deserves forgiveness, but if you want access, I got to test you. >> Not going to just freely give you access. You heard me. And some people don't deserve access in your life again. But these were his brothers, and God had a plan. And I'm sure God probably spoke and said, "Give your brothers access." God, I will, but I will test it before I trust it. And the church said, >> "Amen." Verse 21 reads 42:21. It says, "Then they said to one another, 'We are truly guilty concerning our brother.'" So they don't even know they're talking to Joseph because he was a boy. Now he's grown, and they don't even know, uh, he knows their language because he had an interpreter. So they said, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother." They're talking about Joseph. "For we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear, and we would not hear. Therefore, this distress has come upon us." And Reuben answered, saying to them, "Did I, did I not speak to you, saying, 'Do not sin against the boy,' and you would not listen? Therefore, behold, his blood is now required of us." But they did not know that Joseph understood them. They're before Joseph. They didn't know it was him. For he spoke to them through an interpreter. He was pretending like he wasn't their brother because they had a language and the Egyptians had a different language. Verse 24. And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, talked with them, and he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. There's a couple things I want to show you. Um, we get insight in the verse right now that we didn't get earlier. We read the scripture, we see where he was thrown in the pit, but now we hear Reuben say, "He pleaded with us and we didn't hear him." Which means not only was Joseph thrown in the pit, he was pleading, "Brother, please, brother, please get me out. Brother, please let me out. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, please, please." He pleaded with them, "Please, please hear me. PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME. HAVE MERCY ON ME. HAVE MERCY." HE BEGGED AND PLEADED AND THEY STILL SOLD HIM. >> He begged and pleaded and they still threw him in the pit. He begged and pleaded and they didn't care. They didn't hear him. SO WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE PEOPLE YOU BEG TO HEAR you are now standing before you asking you to hear them? >> WHAT DO YOU DO IN THIS MOMENT? WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE PEOPLE THAT BROUGHT EVIL TO YOUR LIFE, YOU'RE IN A POSITION TO BRING EVIL TO THEIRS? What do you do when you have all the power in the world? What do you do? BECAUSE SOMETIMES GOD WON'T JUST PUT those people BACK IN YOUR PATH. He will put them back in your path when you have power. >> HE CAN SNAP HIS FINGERS and make them slaves. He can snap his fingers and get them beheaded. He can snap his fingers and exact vengeance against them. He can snap his fingers AND AND PAY BACK ALL THE EVIL THEY DID TO HIM. HE COULD FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE AND BITTERNESS WITH BITTERNESS AND HATE WITH HATE AND MALICE WITH MALICE. AND NOW HE'S wrestling because he can hear them and they don't know that he can hear them. And he turned around and he started weeping. He started weeping. He wept. He wept. And not only did he weep when they threw him in the pit, the Bible never said he cried. When they sold him into slavery, the Bible never said he cried. Wow. Wow. >> When Potiphar's wife lied on him, the Bible never said he cried. When he was in the prison and the cupbearer and the baker forgot about him, the Bible never said he cried. >> But when he's standing before forgiveness, it breaks him and he cries. >> What is it about forgiveness that would make you cry in a way that brokenness wouldn't even make you cry? >> Betrayal wouldn't even make you cry. Being innocent and lied on wouldn't even make you cry. Being incarcerated wouldn't even make you cry. There is something about forgiveness that is SO HEAVY AND SO HARD AND SO BITTER THAT IT WOULD BREAK him in ways that the betrayal couldn't. And sometimes in our lives, church, sometimes it is a bigger fight to forgive those that hurt us than it was to even endure what they inflicted on us. Sometimes it's a bigger fight to let go than it was to even sit in the prison cell, than it was to even deal with betrayal, than it was to even wrestle with your identity. Joseph took all that to the chamber, and when it was time to forgive, he was bust open and he was weeping. He couldn't even contain himself because there's something about the power of forgiveness. Forgiveness would bring you down to your knees like pain and betrayal and offense couldn't. [applause] And forgiveness brought him down to his knees because it is hard to forgive. IT IS HARD TO FORGIVE. Forgiveness did what the chains couldn't do. Forgiveness did what the pit couldn't do. Forgiveness did what lying couldn't do. Forgiveness did what conspiring couldn't do. Forgiveness would bring you down to your knees. And some of you guys, as you wrestle AND AS YOU FIGHT to forgive, you're going to deal with more pain forgiving than you did when they did what they did to you. It is a fight to forgive. It is a wrestle to forgive. Joseph never shed a tear until he had to forgive. And I believe here's why. It's because when he was in the pit, he was fighting. When he was in a prison, he was fighting. When he was at Potiphar's house, he was fighting. But when it was time to forgive, you no longer fight. You actually have to stop and feel. And as you're forgiving, many times you for a slight moment, but God will come and heal it and he'll cure it. But as you're forgiving, all of a sudden you're remembering what happened. >> You're reliving what happened. [clears throat] As he's getting ready to FORGIVE HIS BROTHERS. PERHAPS HE'S FEELING the cold prison floor he used to lay on. >> As he's trying to forgive his brothers, he's remembering the days where the prison served food he didn't like and he didn't eat for two days. He's, he's sitting here and he's remembering the wounds to his feet that the psalmist talks about. And he's remembering everything that happened to them. Because when you HAVE TO FORGIVE, HERE'S WHAT MAKES FORGIVENESS FIGHT. AND HERE'S WHAT MAKES IT SO HARD. YOU DON'T ONLY HAVE TO FORGIVE WHAT they did. You have to forgive everything that was the result of what they did. Come on. >> Because whenever there's an earthquake, after the earthquake, you have what's called the aftershock. And the aftershock are smaller earthquakes that's trying to bring equilibrium to the earth after the original earthquake. And all of a sudden, because you rejected me, now I'm married and I'm rejected BY MY SPOUSE. BECAUSE YOU didn't love me, now I'm a parent and I can't love my kids. Because you didn't serve me, now I'm struggling trying to serve those. Because you didn't speak INTO ME. NOW I'M NOT SPEAKING INTO MY KIDS. IT WASN'T JUST THE EARTHQUAKE YOU BROUGHT INTO my life. IT WAS THE AFTERSHOCK. >> IT WAS THE AFTERSHOCK. IT WAS THAT I CAN'T SLEEP AT NIGHT. IT WAS THAT WHEN I LOOK IN A MIRROR, I DON'T KNOW WHO I AM. I AIN'T JUST FORGIVEN AN EARTHQUAKE. I'M FORGIVING THE AFTERSHOCK. >> [applause] >> And it broke him to HIS CORE BECAUSE NOT ONLY DID YOU SELL ME into slavery, you forgot I ain't seen my dad again >> and my mom again and my family again. And now I have to learn a new language and I HAVE TO BE AROUND PEOPLE I DON'T KNOW. AND I HAVE TO go through hardship >> BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID TO ME. AND NOW YOU'RE HERE ASKING ME FOR MERCY. AND YOU SHOWED ME NONE. But Joseph still showed mercy. And perhaps God didn't use him because he was the youngest and because he was the son of Rachel and because he had a coat of many colors. Perhaps God used this boy because he saw how big his heart was. Maybe God looked at all the brothers and said, "Which one could forgive?" >> Because I don't think what made Joseph special was his faith to be able to interpret dreams. I believe it was his fruit to be able to forgive. >> And I want you to know that when you can forgive, it doesn't make you a weak person. It makes you a big person. It takes a big person to forgive. It takes a big person to forgive. It doesn't make you weak. And some of you guys, you walk in bitterness and you don't forgive because you feel like to forgive means that you're weak and you're being a doormat and you're letting people walk over you and you're letting people treat you any kind of way and do you any kind of way and say whatever they want to you. But it's easy to get revenge. It's easy to fight back. It's easy to snap back. It's easy to get your lick back. It takes strength AND POWER AND FIGHT TO FORGIVE. [applause] IT TAKES POWER TO FORGIVE. IT TAKES PRAYER TO FORGIVE. IT TAKES HUMILITY TO FORGIVE. IT TAKES LETTING GO TO FORGIVE. IT'S EASY TO GET REVENGE. IT'S EASY TO FIGHT EVIL WITH EVIL. OH, BUT IT'S HARD TO BLESS YOU WHEN YOU CURSE ME. >> It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. And this is why forgiveness is a fight. You have to wrestle with it. You have to fight. You have to fight because you're right. You have to fight because they don't deserve it. You have to fight because they wronged you. YOU HAVE TO fight because they did it on purpose. YOU HAVE TO FIGHT because they wanted to hurt you. You have to fight 'cause they wanted to break you. They wanted to humiliate you. AND YOU HAVE TO FIGHT TO FORGIVE. You have to fight. And then all of a sudden, Joseph, he's in the room with his brothers again because they're going back and forth. And a total, he wept a total of seven times. And I, and I don't know if the number has significance to seven being the number of completion and symbolizing a complete healing. I don't know. But he wept seven times because I think the Bible was showing you there's a progression >> and a sequence to healing. Sometimes one cry won't do it. You got to go back and do it again. >> Sometimes you got to revisit again. Sometimes you got to reforgive again. Sometimes you got to pray again. Sometimes you, you let it go and you PICKED IT BACK UP and you got to let it GO AGAIN. >> HE CRIED SEVEN TIMES BECAUSE HE KEPT WRESTLING WITH THIS concept of forgiving them. It was the fight to forgive. And I'm going to tell you what made it even worse. Judah, the brother that said, "Sell him into slavery." Judah was the same brother because when he tested them, they told him, "Hey, all the brothers came that sold him into slavery, but one was left behind." The one that was left behind, his name was Benjamin. And Benjamin was left behind because Benjamin was a prototype of Joseph. His dad had another son after he was sold. His dad thought he was murdered and executed. And he had another son named Benjamin to the same woman that Joseph was born from. So Joseph had one full brother named Benjamin he had never met. And when they told him about Benjamin, when they didn't know who he was, he had one request. He said, "I will bless you guys and let you go and not treat you guys as spies, but I need you to bring your youngest brother to me." And his dad was like, "Y'all not taking my youngest boy because the last time y'all took my youngest boy, he got executed." >> And Joseph said, "We're going to host Simeon in jail and, and, and all y'all ain't getting nothing." and until you bring the youngest boy. And why did he ask them to bring the youngest boy? Because he wanted to see not that they were sorrowful, but that they were repentant. >> Wow. >> I don't need you to be sorry for what you did to me. I need you to repent. [applause] >> I need you to repent. I need you to turn. I need you to change. Okay? You hurt me and you want me to forgive you. I can forgive you, but if you want access to me, I need to know you changed. >> And what's not tested can't be trusted. So sometimes you got to put a test in place to know that people change. I'm not, I'm, I'm not, I'm going to forgive you anyway. You get that one. But access, no, no, no. I have to know YOU CHANGED. AND I need, just me personally, I need a word from God, too. Because after you hurt me, don't get too close. You better back up. >> Don't get too close now. I need, I need 20 ft. Yeah. >> You heard me. Back up. I'LL FORGIVE YOU. I NEED 20 FT. And I believe the Holy Spirit was like, "No, we're going to bring reconciliation." So, all of a sudden, Joseph set up a scene to where they put something in Benjamin's bag, his baby brother, and he was going to take Benjamin as a slave to recreate the scene that they did to him. >> And Judah, the one that sold him into slavery, said, "Take me as a slave, not my little brother." And he saw that the person that made him a slave was willing to be a slave for his little brother. And it was a prototype of what they should have did for him. And he saw the repentance of his brother. THE BIBLE SAYS HE CRIED [screaming] OUT LOUD. AND THE EGYPTIANS COULD HEAR HIM. AND HE CRIED OUT BECAUSE WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE MONSTER and the villain of your story repents? >> BECAUSE I SURVIVED BECAUSE I MADE YOU A monster >> and I made you a villain. and I made you evil. BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I SEE THE GRACE OF GOD on your life and you repent AND NO LONGER ARE YOU A MONSTER, BUT YOU'RE A CHILD NEEDING A SAVIOR, TOO? >> WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ABUSE ME, BUT JESUS STILL LOVES YOU, TOO? >> AND IT BROKE JOSEPH SO DEEPLY, HE SCREAMED OUT. HE COULDN'T TAKE IT. And he saw the repentance of his brothers. And he told them who he was. And he forgave them. and he, and he, and he let them off the hook. And then as I get ready to close, he said this to them. He said, "You sold me, >> but God sent me." [applause] >> That's so good. >> And I just want to declare to some of you guys in this room, you wasn't sold, you were sent. Come on. >> In other words, God used that to send Joseph ahead of his brothers so when they ran out of food, he would be empowered to feed them. And this is why God prepares a table in the midst of your enemies. Not so you can tease them, but so you can feed them. >> And he was able to feed who tried to kill him and who harmed him and who inflicted pain on him. And this was the heart and the posture of his forgiveness. And he had to fight to forgive because it's not about what they did to you. It's about who do you want to be. You wasn't sold. You was sent. And if you would forgive, God will use everything they did to your advantage. He will use the agony they brought you to strengthen your anointing. He will use the burden they brought you to strengthen your blessing. He will use the pain and the fury they caused you to strengthen your favor. He will use what they did for your benefit and for your good. All the way to the point Joseph said, "What you meant for evil, God meant FOR GOOD. YOU MEANT IT FOR EVIL. YOU TRIED TO BREAK ME. YOU TRIED TO TAKE ME OUT. YOU TRIED TO HARM ME. YOU TRIED TO BRING ME DOWN TO MY KNEES. YOU TRIED TO MAKE ME CRY. YOU TRIED TO CASTIGATE ME AND REPRIMAND ME AND HARM ME. OH, BUT GOD, [cheering] >> GOD MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. >> YOU LIED ON ME, BUT HE MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. YOU CAME AGAINST ME, BUT HE MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. YOU DIDN'T RAISE ME, BUT HE MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. YOU DIDN'T HAVE MY BACK, BUT HE MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. YOU DIDN'T HELP ME. OH, BUT HE MEANT IT FOR MY GOOD. WHAT YOU MEANT FOR EVIL. >> GOD [screaming] MEANT FOR GOOD. >> And sometimes you got to birth forgiveness. You can't JUST SPEAK IT. YOU CAN'T JUST SAY IT. YOU GOT TO GIVE BIRTH TO FORGIVENESS. >> And that's what Joseph literally did. And he gave birth to forgiveness because when he had his first son, he named him Manasseh. Which means "God has caused me to forget all my troubles." He named his son, in essence, forgiveness. [applause] 'Cause I can't just say it. I got to birth it. Then when he had his second son, he named him Ephraim, which means fruitfulness. [music] And I think his sons were prophesying to us because we have to have forgiveness to get the fruitfulness. [applause] And you will never see your Ephraim season until you have your Manasseh season. When you can forgive, God can bring fruit out of the thing that you had to forgive. Sometimes you got to fight. Sometimes you got to CRY AND CRY AGAIN AND FIGHT AGAIN AND CRAWL AGAIN. BUT YOU HAVE TO FIGHT TO FORGIVE. AND IF YOU DO IT, God will use it. [music]

Everyone stand to your feet. Let me pray for you. >> Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they [music] can be blessed as well. Also, if you would like to partner with us and invest in what God is doing here at Radiant, the giving link is down below.